Kingdom Hearts Online 2
by KeybladeChan
Summary: The story takes place right after Oathkeeper's return to Kingdom Hearts Online, in Oblivion's perspective. However, Square Enix is gradually becoming bankrupt due to less players logging into the game, unwilling to do so because of the danger that Chaos Ripper imposed. Oblivion comes up with a solution that has potential, but the real answer lies in her beta testing days.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

It was the year 2027. A 10-year-old little Japanese girl was in the family car with her parents. They were on their way to Harajuku to visit her Oji-san. She didn't know her Oji-san very well, since he was always working. That is why, even at this moment, she played video games created by Square Enix, where Oji-san worked. "Maybe one day I will make a game for you," He told her when they last met.

"Can I be the first person to test it out?" The girl asked.

"Of course!" He beamed.

The little girl had long, silky, black hair which was tied in a ponytail. Bangs covered most of her face, although her mother tried to tuck them away whenever she could. Her bangs could not hide her large, almond-shaped eyes, her sharp little nose and small mouth which she inherited from her mother. On the other hand, her moonlight-pale skin and v-line jaw resembled her father.

Now, in the car, the little girl played a game called ' _Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance_ ' while her father drove through Yoyogi Park. The little girl was amazed by the speed of the enemies in the game, and she somehow managed to conquer them like any good gamer. Her favorite monster was the Necho Cat. She felt like Oji-san helped design it for her. But because she played games so much, her mother worried that she wouldn't have friends.

However, she didn't know that her daughter also wanted to have friends, but didn't want to leave her games for too long. The little girl wished there was a way to play games with friends. She eventually wanted to become a game designer like Oji-san, because she loved games so much. She saved the game and shut it down before speaking to her parents, "Are we there yet?"

"Just another hour to go," Her father called from the front of the car.

Suddenly, her mother shook her father, "Danna, there's someone on the road. Look out!"

Just like most car accidents, the family had too little time for preparations. The little girl couldn't decide whether to brace herself or her game console, her mother barely reached her father's hand and her father was conflicted between stopping and swerving the car. But no one had time to say goodbye.

The little girl's father saved the life of a man crossing the road, who was staring at his phone when the incident happened. Although she was bruised and scarred, the little girl also survived, unbeknownst to her deceased parents. Oji-san was informed of the car crash, and rushed to the hospital after being excused from work. From that point onward, he raised and homeschooled his niece while he slowly rose through the ranks in Square Enix.

While he did so, the little girl was given friends through her pet dog Ashitaka and her pet cat Chihiro. Oji-san had told her about online games, and it gave her even more friends as well as (somewhat) improved her English. The little girl's name was Amaterasu Mutou.

 **Author's note: Yay, I'm finally back in action! I didn't want to drag the story any further with Oathkeeper because it was starting to feel stale. But now that I get to write about Oblivion, I'm excited all over again. I finally get to show the huge biography that I created for her and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I never found the Gummi Ship routes unnerving, and it was even less so now. I guess the endless abyss of darkness didn't get to me. I was running alongside Aubade's Gummi Ship, sitting on my Keyblade Glider. Oathkeeper sat in the passenger's seat next to Aubade, who steered the ship in a Corridor of Darkness. Although I was concentrating on where I was going, Oathkeeper waved at me anyways.

It took me 2 hours by myself to clear Radiant Garden, and it took Aubade a week. I didn't blame him, having Roxas as the second boss in KHO was a rough decision. I wondered how long it would take Oathkeeper. I really missed him after the first week I left. Talking to my cat and dog was not the same as talking to my horse. Wait, did I just call him _my_ horse?

The thing that made it so easy to get to Radiant Garden was the fact that there were no Heartless in our way. We came to the end of the route, funneling into a portal of light. We slowly descended in front of an island that floated above a pink sea. The color scheme of the island were cold hues of cement covered in mossy greens with tinges of orange, pink, yellow and purple. The highest point of the island was a castle covered in pastel shades of pink and purple.

Aubade landed Intrepid in the Outer Gardens, where the tinges of orange, pink, yellow and purple turned into fields of flowers. They stepped outside Intrepid and I saw Aubade pat Oathkeeper on the back, "Welcome to Radiant Garden."

I landed next to them and stepped off my nine-tailed fox Glider. Once my feet touched the ground, the Glider and my armor disappeared, leaving me in the Lightning avatar. I knew it was a bit extravagant of me to choose a nine-tailed fox to take the shape of my Glider. It was a choice between a dog, cat, horse, pig, ox, rabbit, lion and dragon.

"Let's go," I nodded. We continued on to the Town Square, the Radiant Garden Shops and into the Cavern of Remembrance. Roxas awaited for us there, and with Aubade and I helping Oathkeeper, we defeated Roxas within 2 days.

"Thanks guys, I couldn't have done it without you," Oathkeeper said to us as we walked out of the Garden of Assemblage. It only took us 2 days to beat Roxas in Radiant Garden.

"You're right, you'd be lost without us," Aubade smirked. I giggled. I'm sure my mom would be proud of me, playing games and being with friends at the same time. As we entered the Cavern of Remembrance, we walked past two familiar faces and stopped. It was End of Pain, back in his Neoshadow Heartless form. There was also his friend, who I saw with him in Traverse Town on the day I became level 100. He was in a Zack Fair avatar. There was also a girl with them, who wore a Creeper Nobody form.

"Hey babe," Aubade smiled.

"Hey honey toast," The girl smiled back.

"Oblivion, this is my girlfriend, Unbound," Aubade gestured to her.

"Wow, your Oblivion?" Unbound looked strangely excited to see me, and she shook my hand, "It's incredible to meet you, I'm a big fan!"

"Uh…thank you?" I hesitated.

Suddenly, End of Pain's friend bowed next to me, "My name is Divewing, I am 25-years-old, I like long romantic walks on the beach and I am single."

"I don't understand," I was even more confused.

"How so?" He looked up at me. He sounded like an American.

"It means she's not interested," Oathkeeper crossed his arms, looking annoyed. Foreigners were very strange.

"Hey, just chill," End of Pain rolled his eyes, "can't blame a guy for trying."

Trying what? I've been out-of-the-know, as they say, for a whole two minutes and it was not enjoyable. "I guess we'll call it a day, right?" I suggested, and my comrades nodded. "I will meet you in Wonderland tomorrow at 6 for you guys," I stated, then turned to my new acquaintances, "Good luck with Roxas."

"Thank you Oblivion! We'll catch up to Wonderland soon enough," Unbound waved goodbye.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I'm from a neighborhood called Kabukicho in Shinjuku. It's the largest red light district in Tokyo, and probably in the world. I'd like to think that's why I have a strong sense of justice. So when my Australian comrades helped me capture Chaos Ripper, I didn't expect so much hype from the media.

It was weird. I was only playing a game. But when I took 3 weeks off KHO to visit Oji-san, I realized something. I was just your average otaku, but when I was in KHO, it was like I was some sort of hero. And I could keep this secret identity forever.

When I logged out, it was 8pm. Oathkeeper and Aubade's Australian timezone was two hours ahead of mine. If there was more of a difference, it would make our schedule difficult. We logged on as a party every day except Thursdays and Fridays, and maybe weekends, because they tended to have plans on those days. Judging from their fighting styles, Oathkeeper played competitive sports and Aubade did not. Oathkeeper tried to explain to me that on Thursdays and most Sundays he plays a sport called Australian Foot Bar Lodge, or something.

I removed my NerveGear and rolled out of bed. My pet Shiba Inu rushed to lick my legs, aware that I was now home in body and mind. Oji-san would be home from work within 2 hours, so I walked through the hallway and into the kitchen to make myself 2 minute noodles. Although Oji-san was quite wealthy, we lived in a modest home in the suburbia of Yoyogi.

For the next two hours, I sat in my room absorbing the events of today. 4 hours of games didn't give me much time to recollect myself; I was always moving forward. Before I logged into Kingdom Hearts Online today, I was being homeschooled by Oji-san from 1pm to 3pm. Even when my parents were alive, I was still homeschooled. They didn't want me to go to a seedy school in Shinjuku.

I began learning how to read, write and do mathematics from the age of 3. At that point onwards my sessions grew longer until I was 13, and Oji-san gave me the option to study further into something I cared about. I knew that English was vital if I wanted to work in the games industry; partnerships with America would be difficult if there was a language barrier. The translator in KHO was not great, so Oji-san was lucky to have game masters working for him who could speak French and Russian.

For the past 3 years, I've also looked further into game programming, which Oji-san was easily able to help me with. It was true that I eventually wanted to be a game designer, but for the time being, I was interested in beta testing. I wanted to make my own way into testing without my uncle's help, so I rushed to apply for beta testing when VRMMORPGs came out. I'll admit, it was scary the first time I did beta testing.

 _Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 12_ was the first of its kind, made 3 years ago. A year after that, _Legacy of the Duelist_ came along. KHO had a much faster style of gameplay in comparison. The beta testing had gone on for 3 months before the game was officially opened to everyone. In that time, I cleared six out of nine worlds. Wonderland had opened about a week ago, but I was looking forward to a month's time when I could battle at the Olympus Coliseum.

Oji-san arrived home from work. I knew he could set up a NerveGear system of his own here, but he explained to me it would be more convenient for him to be at work if some sort of glitch happened. Nothing odd has happened since Chaos Ripper was sent to jail. "Hello, Teru-chan. How was your day?" He entered the door grinning, slightly tired. On most days, he had a rugged appearance. Oji-san avoided wearing suits and formal clothing, which was the opposite for my father. He shaved his beard and cleaned himself up only for press conferences or big meetings with international partners, but he was still hygienic. Even though Oji-san was five years younger than my father, he was much taller and fair-skinned.

"Good, we finished Radiant Garden," I told him with pride.

"Excellent, now let's see this black market."

We went into my room and logged in to my computer. I searched 'KHO online auctions' on and scrolled through the results. "Just pick the first one," Oji-san shrugged.

"That's not the point," I explained carefully, "Any of these links could lead to a virus. I've never used the online auctions before, but Magu-kun told me about them when I started online gaming."

"You know I don't like that boy." "That's only because he's the next generation of the gaming."

My friend had told me the websites that had viruses all had a certain type of coding that came up in the search results, and after I was certain, I clicked on the right one. Oji-san and I found that the items on demand were not to dissimilar to the ones that were popular when Kingdom Hearts was just a console game. The Keyblades Unbound, Fatal Crest, Guardian Soul, Gull Wing, Oathkeeper and Oblivion were being auctioned off at this very minute. Keyblade armor pieces and Keyblade Gliders were not a priority, which was good for me. It meant I was still the only player who had either of those.

"Where's Ultima?" I asked.

"I haven't put her in the game yet, so she shouldn't be there," Oji-san told me, "But what Keyblades do you have?" "'The Kingdom Key', 'Two Become One' and 'Oblivion'."

"I see, so you don't want to cheat anymore," He rubbed his chin in thought and abruptly changed the subject, "With all of this information, I say we start an auction house in Radiant Garden. There's not enough room in Traverse Town and it would be much safer than this black market business."

"The auction house could be run by Scrooge McDuck," I added, and Oji-san gave me a quizzical look, "He's always wanting to find new ways to make money, so it's perfect."

"Yes, that does make sense," He nodded, "I will speak to my team tomorrow. Thank you for your help, this could make KHO popular again."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next day, I met Oathkeeper and Aubade at the outer gardens of Radiant Garden. "How was school?" I tried to start a conversation.

They both replied with, "Good." Then Oathkeeper asked, "What's schooling like where your from?" I was surprised at his interest, but felt ashamed that I couldn't give him much information. "I wouldn't know; I've been homeschooled my whole life," I shrugged.

"That's cool! You must be pretty smart, so what's it like?"

Wow…he called me pretty and smart in the same sentence. "I hate to break it to you, but time is of the essence," Aubade sighed.

"You're just impatient to level up," Oathkeeper teased. It wasn't just any level, it was level 26. To Aubade, it would mean he would get to wear a copper crown and have 2 more slots to his 4 for more attack commands.

We used the Gummi Ship and Glider once more. Unfortunately, I didn't have a name for my vehicle like Aubade did. It was interesting to think that the Light Keyblade Wielders were the only type of players who needed to use them. The other classes were the Nobodies, Heartless and Dark Keyblade Wielders. Just like we had crowns, they had their own system of showing their rank level.

For example, I could tell that End of Pain was between level 1 to 25 because of his Neoshadow form. The same went for Aubade's girlfriend, who was also around the same level as End of Pain depending on how much she's played. Both the Nobody and Heartless players gradually gain humanoid avatars as they get stronger and level up, exactly the same as their ordinary non-playable counterparts.

The Dark Keyblade Wielders were interesting. They're allowed to use Gummi Ships and Gliders like we are, but don't have to because their main source of power is from the darkness. When they reach level 26, their avatar gets brown eyes instead of a copper crown. At level 51, they turn orange. Then at level 76, they gain yellow eyes and pointed ears like Master Xehanort, despite which default character avatar they pick.

Unlike Radiant Garden, we entered Wonderland through a pitch-black tunnel and our vehicles disappeared. "Seriously?" Oathkeeper mused, "We're falling down a rabbit hole?"

We slowly descended into the house of the White Rabbit, who stood there as if waiting for us. When he saw us, he scurried down a hallway. "We're meant to follow him," I started to chase after him.

"How do you know?" Aubade was behind me running.

"Beta tester," Oathkeeper reminded him.

We continued running until we came to one of Wonderland's most popular features, the Bizarre Room. In the center of the room was a large, hexagonal table with a matching table and two types of bottles sitting atop its surface. The floor was covered in brown and pink tiles. The wallpaper was a soft shade of purple, and two large doors stood on opposite ends of the room. On our right was a clock tower and adjacent to it was a chimney. There was no sight of the White Rabbit. "What do we do now?" Oathkeeper asked me.

"We have to get on that table. Since we're in a party, this should not take too long," I said, "Oathkeeper needs to drink the bottle that makes him grow so he can push furniture around and find treasure chests and new doors. Aubade, you'll take the other bottle and pick up the treasures. Be aware that once you change sizes, Heartless will attack. I'll go talk to the Doorknob and fight off the Heartless."

We jumped up on top of the table and a group of Heartless appeared. Out of habit, Oathkeeper and Aubade summoned their Keyblades. "Leave it to me," I reminded them. They drank a bottle which both said 'drink me' and grew or shrank, respectively. " _Triple Pursuit!_ " I sent shards of ice flying towards Soldiers while I began attack combos on a Fat Body. They were destroyed in almost a second. The EXP dodged me and went towards Oathkeeper and Aubade. I gained a Panacea.

"Whoa, so that's why you wanted to level up," I heard Oathkeeper's voice from the ceiling. I looked up to see him smiling down at me. He was used to looking down to see me, but now he was 10 feet taller. I smiled back at him and waved.

"Guys! We need to keep moving!" Aubade hollered, who was at the height of my knees. He was right, of course. I jumped off the table and went to speak to the Disney character, the Doorknob. He was sleeping, like last time.

"Hello?" I stood in front of him. He snorted a few times with surprise before opening his eyes.

"What can I do for you?" He yawned.

"I want to get through this door to follow the White Rabbit," I answered.

"Try the other door," He frowned impatiently, "Now let me get a nap."

I already knew that, which was a waste of time. But if I didn't talk to him, the door to the Queen's Court would never show up. I turned back around to see Blue Rhapsody and Yellow Opera Heartless drawing closer to Oathkeeper. He was pushing the clock tower to the side, revealing the door that we needed. I rushed back into the battle and held up my Keyblade, " _Thundaga._ "

As I was fighting, I noticed that all the furniture had been moved and the treasure chests were opened. My speed made me feel like the Heartless were fighting in slow motion. They were gone once more. "Oblivion, over here," I looked down to see Aubade tug at my coat, "What do we do now? Everything in this room is clear."

"Change back to your normal size, then we'll go through that door over there. It's neutral territory in this world," I gestured to the door next to the clock. After Oathkeeper and Aubade changed back to their normal size, we entered the door into the Queen's Court. We were now in a clearing of a hedge maze; the court looked just like it did in _Chain of Memories._ In front of us sat the Queen of Hearts on the magistrate's seat. Below her was the mat of hearts and where the accused had to stand. On the right was a stand for spectators and the left was where the White Rabbit stood. He stood next to an opening that led to the Lotus Forest, where we were meant to be heading next. "This way," I beckoned.

"Hey, how's it going?" A player approached us with his party in tow. I knew who he was instantly. He had a Reno avatar with Orange eyes, showing he was a Dark Keyblade Wielder. He wore Keyblade armor with black and red. Lionheart, the leader of the prestigious Megaflare League and it's smaller branch, the Megaflare Party.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Good to see you again," Oathkeeper nodded, failing to hide his excitement.

"You too!" Lionheart exclaimed in a British accent, and they shook hands. The man was loud in his physical expression and voice. When we were passing through the Radiant Garden Shops, Oathkeeper mentioned that he admired Lionheart and Ominous Blight. They were arguably two of the highest ranking players in KHO. Some people didn't count me as the best player, because they think I took a shortcut to getting up to level 100. I didn't mind though, I only saw being level 100 as a means to an end rather than the end result.

"However, I am not here to just chat," Lionheart finished his handshake, "I would like to duel Oblivion."

I was taken aback. "What's the prize?" Aubade asked.

"I haven't decided yet," Lionheart shrugged too deliberately. He was up to something, "What say you, Oblivion?"

"I don't really want anything from you," I admitted.

"You seem relatively young, so your naive heart is yet to be corrupted by greed," He stated. What was that supposed to mean? "I suppose we should get this party started, let's head to the Lotus Forest — everyone make way."

Lionheart led his party and my comrades into the Lotus Forest, and to an area where we wouldn't be ambushed by Heartless. We chose to duel in the tall grass and stood about 8 meters away from each other, before rushing in for our Keyblades to collide. " _Sliding Dash!_ " I wanted to catch him by surprise, but he simply stepped to the side to avoid my attack.

" _Dark Splicer,_ " Lionheart began attacking me from all different directions. I could see after-images of him that led me to be confused of where he was really standing, while he slashed at me. It was if he was teleporting. The best I could do was block him.

When the attack command had ended, I tried again, " _Triple Pursuit._ "

" _Dark Break,_ " He leapt above me whilst being attacked by my shards of ice, leaving me no time to block as he pummeled down on me with dark shockwaves.

" _Thundaga!_ " I used it out of desperation, even though I knew long-range attacks wouldn't work on someone like Lionheart.

He blocked once and said, " _Counter Aura._ "

A dome of purple enveloped him, deflecting my lightning and sending dark rays of aura back at me. Damn he was fast! " _Dark Haze!_ " He was suddenly cloaked in darkness and charged at me without warning and charged through me. I saw my HP quickly dropping to 25% and I panicked, which I rarely do in a game. I quickly casted _Curaga_ on me and Lionheart chuckled, "That's not gonna help."

I glanced above my head and saw a countdown for 5 seconds. In my opinion, it was the worst status effect invented in Kingdom Hearts. It was called Doom, and to put it in easy terms, it gave the victim inevitable death after a short period of time. I had already accepted defeat by the time my HP dropped down to zero, and all of Lionheart's supporters cheered. Instead of addressing them, he approached me. "At the moment you fight like a retard fucking a doorknob," He patted my shoulder, "Although you managed to block some of my attacks."

"Thank you for your feedback, I will take it into consideration," I nodded, alienated by his analogy, "But since you won, what do you want?"

"I already have what I want," Lionheart answered, "I wanted to see if the next generation of professional gamers were acceptable for the future, and you most certainly are."

"I didn't even last a minute in the duel."

"Gaming isn't always about success," He shook his head, "Sometimes, you need to take your noob moments and persist like your life depends on it."

A player wearing a Paddra Nsu-Yeul avatar rushed to his side. She was wearing little to no signature Megaflare armor, so she must have been the party's healer. The difference between the Megaflare Party and its League were quite simple; the party was for Lionheart's strongest and most trusted allies, while his League was much more vast in members of varied skills and levels. Because this player was assigned to be in Lionheart's party, it meant she was the best healer in his entire League. "Lionheart, sir! Would you like me to heal you?" To my surprise, the player spoke in a deep male voice.

"No need to heal me after one hit," Lionheart waved him off. I quickly checked his health bar, and I indeed somehow managed to cut him down to 80 percent. It was just one hit, but I was surprised nonetheless. Like most of the best players, Lionheart's game role was an attacker. I was also an attacker, and we were known for our hard-hitting attack commands. The only catch was that our HP was pathetic, which is why most of the best players were leaders of Leagues instead of being a solo player. Lionheart beckoned his party, "Let's go."

"Damn, I seriously thought you would smash that," Oathkeeper told me when the Megaflare Party left the area.

"I didn't know what to expect," I said. I told them about the advice he gave me, and wondered what it meant.

"I think he means your sloppy and rushed when fighting," Oathkeeper suggested.

"Or he's just being a dick," Aubade grunted. I instantly sensed tension between the two friends, and it made me nervous. Aubade had just insulted Oathkeeper's idol, and Oathkeeper was too nice to say anything in defense which made him even more upset. Even if I knew all the English words ever invented, there was no way I knew how to shake off this falling out.

"Teru-chan! That was an awesome duel," The perfect distraction had arrived in the form of Ominous Blight, the solo player equivalent of Lionheart.

"Thank you, but it was disgusting on my behalf," I sighed, "So what brings you here?"

"I just beat the boss for the 10th time and was passing by here," He told me.

I then noticed Oathkeeper and Aubade somewhat gawking at the new arrival. He had a Wol avatar, which took the shape of a tall, muscular man with dark skin and white hair. Wol's default outfit was quite unique for a male character. To put it bluntly, his outfit was like a surfing wetsuit with bulks of silvery blue armor that covered his limbs, and protruded from his shoulders, thighs, knees and calves. His eyes were orange, signifying he was still evenly matched to Lionheart. "Ominous Blight, I'd like you to meet my comrades, Oathkeeper and Aubade," I introduced them.

"Glad to meet my replacements," He said jokingly, and held out both hands. With a rushed realization, my comrades shook each hand, silenced from being starstruck.

"They are not and you know it," I scoffed.

"I know, I know, but it's nice seeing you around normal people our age."

"H-how do you guys know each other?" Oathkeeper stammered shyly.

"We've known each other since forever, really," Ominous Blight grinned at me, "We used to play with each other at the Square Enix building when my mother and her uncle brought us in to visit their workplace."

"His mother is Hikaru Utada," I added, which made my friends gleam with excitement.

"Really?" Aubade gasped, and Ominous Blight tried to shrug it off. It was true; I couldn't remember exactly how young I was when I met Ominous Blight. My visits to Oji-san's workplace became more frequent when my parents passed away, because he felt wary of leaving me home alone at first.

"…No, I don't sing — it's my sister who's the J-Pop idol," Ominous Blight chuckled lightly, "Well, I should let you guys do your thing. It was nice meeting you." "Could you join our party just this once?" Oathkeeper asked with high hopes. The nerve he had to ask that question.

"He's more of a solo player than I am," I rolled my eyes.

"And you don't need me if you have Oblivion with you, that's for sure," Ominous Blight waved goodbye while walking away.

"Why didn't you tell us before that he was your friend?" Oathkeeper asked with a bit of annoyance.

"I haven't seen him since beta testing for KHO," I explained, "I guess he's just been busy with work."

"But he's one of the top 3 players of the game; he spends most of his time in here!"

"That's his job."

"Oh."

What most people didn't know was the invention that started around 20 years ago. Game companies who made online games noticed that not all the best players in their game used the in-app purchases, meaning that they spent countless hours to stay high in the rankings. The game had clearly taken up most of their life and the company wanted to help those kind of gamers by giving them a job: continue to play the game and be paid for it. They didn't want the players who always won battles or thought up the best strategies, they wanted the ones who played for 8 hours like it was a work shift.

That's what Lionheart meant when he spoke of wanting to see the next generation of professional gamers. It became custom to send a letter of invite to (at least) the top 10 highest ranking players in the game. Game companies figured that was all they needed to aspire other players to strive to be as good as the top 10. Oathkeeper and Aubade were perfect examples of that. When I became level 100, I got an automatic invite to be a paid gamer, and I refused. Even though virtually no one knew I was the niece of Pazu Midori, I didn't want to work for him. I wanted to make my own way into the world.

 **Author's note: I told you I had a good use for Divine Rose, and that's not all he's going to do. If you didn't read the prequel to this story, let me give you some background info on the player with the Paddra Nsu-Yeul avatar. He was introduced in chapter 14 of KHO, where he met Oathkeeper and openly tried to flirt with him. This is only after Oathkeeper, Aubade and Oblivion had captured Chaos Ripper.**

 **What do you think of Lionheart and Ominous Blight? Are they weird? Cool? Creepy? Eventually I will introduce the rest of the Top 10 Players of KHO, so what do you think about using them as advertising for the game? Let me know. I can't wait to hear from you!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I led the party to the southern side of the Lotus Forest, where we took down all the Heartless bit by bit. Just up ahead was the Tea Party Garden, where we would have our boss fight. "By the way, who's the boss in this world?" Oathkeeper asked.

"Luxord." "Far out, do they have to keep giving us Organization members?"

"I think that's the point," Aubade told him, "The boss is based on what type of class you are." "That was why I didn't let Lionheart trick you into joining his party," I said, "And the reason why Ominous Blight could never team up with us."

While the Light Keyblade Wielders were pitted against Organization members and Heartless, all the other classes fought the Somebodies. It wasn't a term used often in the Kingdom Hearts community, but it existed. Terra was the Somebody boss for Traverse Town, Aqua was the Somebody boss for Radiant Garden and Ventus was the Somebody boss for Wonderland. "We better get going," Aubade said.

We entered the Tea Party Garden, and I remembered that it was a terrible place to have any battle whatsoever. On our left was a house and above us hung red and yellow Chinese lanterns. Right in front of us were a few chairs clumped around a table, covered in a pink tablecloth. The table was cluttered with cutlery and teapots with teacups. A brick footpath surrounded the table. Overall you could barely walk in this area, let alone fight. Luxord stood on the other side of it with his back facing away from us. We slowly approached him and he turned around, "The first to run out of time is the loser."

In my vision, I could now see a time gauge below my health bar. "Cards!" Luxord brought out his cards and I closely watched as he hid in one of them. "Look who's on top of the game," He spoke, and he shifted the cards on the ground, keeping himself hidden. Once the cards stopped moving, Luxord said to us, "Look closely."

"So we have to pick which card he's hiding in?" Oathkeeper asked.

"Yes, and we have to hit him with our Keyblade once we've decided," I nodded. There were 4 large cards in front of us with a picture of the Nobody symbol, and I pointed to the one on the farthest right, "He's in that one."

We all attacked the card, and it flipped upwards to show an "X", better known as the necklace that Roxas wore. Damn. "You have 2 more chances," Luxord told us.

"Let's try this one," Oathkeeper suggested to the one two places to the left. We whacked it together, and it ended with the same answer.

"1 more," Luxord reminded us.

"Crap, one more and we're screwed," Oathkeeper furrowed his brow.

"It's this one," I pointed to the card on the farthest left.

"How do you know it's not the wrong one?" Oathkeeper demanded.

"I heard his voice coming from there."

We leapt towards it, and it was the wrong answer once more. Our time gauge dropped straight to zero, and it was game over. However, our HP hadn't run out, so we re-entered the boss battle and tried it another 3 times. Oathkeeper and I continued to guess incorrectly. By the end of it, I could tell Oathkeeper was starting to get annoyed at me. "This isn't working," Aubade sighed, "We should call it a day." Oathkeeper ignored him and turned on me, "I thought you know what you're doing!"

I was usually not one to stand down when someone challenged me, but I was so stunned from his outburst. I didn't know how to handle it, so I stood down. I said goodbye to him and Aubade before logging out, but my mind was dwelling on the battle. We didn't lose because of our strategy, we lost because of our lack of teamwork. Our struggle reminded me of a player that went by the name of Mysterious Abyss.

He was one of the top players in the game, ranked around 6th. It was probably because he wasn't a solo player like Ominous Blight, or the leader of a party and league like Lionheart. He was good because he was the best strategist in the game. He was a member of the Sanctuary League, run by Maverick Flare, who was ranked higher than him because of her brute strength. I met Mysterious Abyss after the fancy ceremony I had for capturing Chaos Ripper.

He was very straight-forward in asking me if I wanted to join his league, and I liked that. When I refused, he accepted it and gave me advice on how to run a party. I hadn't thought about it much since then, I was more worried about Oji-san's health. But now that Oathkeeper was starting to doubt me, I knew I had to do what Mysterious Abyss had said. Also, we didn't even have an official name for our party. How can something take shape if it doesn't have a name?

The next day, my friends and I all logged in at the Queen's Court. "Let's show Luxord who's boss," Oathkeeper started walking without hesitation. I knew I didn't have good people skills or much social etiquette, but he didn't say hello or even look at us.

"Oathkeeper, there's something I want to talk about," I said as we entered the Lotus Forest.

"Can it wait?" Aubade asked politely.

"I've been thinking of something that Mysterious Abyss told me," I said. He was just as famous as Lionheart, so I didn't need to explain who he was, "We need to talk about a proper team strategy."

"There is _no_ strategy to guessing the right card," Oathkeeper snorted, "It's just luck, and I'm feeling pretty lucky today."

I replied, "That's not what I meant—"

"Then it can wait 'til after the fight," He argued, stopping to look at me for the first time today. I noticed the look in his eyes and I knew something was wrong. Oathkeeper looked disappointed at me, but he also looked desperate for something. It wasn't entirely my fault that he was upset; something happened to him offline. With the rushed mindset he had now, I didn't even have time to ask why he was feeling this way.

We entered the boss battle with the same results as yesterday. We spent 2 hours guessing the right card before Oathkeeper and I turned really furious at each other. We stood face to face, right outside of the Tea Party Garden. Oathkeeper was keeping his tense arms crossed while I bawled my fists. If I wasn't so caught up in being mad at Oathkeeper, I would have felt sorry for Aubade. "Aren't you the best player in this entire game?" Oathkeeper asked menacingly.

"Yes."

"Then start acting like it! We've been at this for way too long!"

I had had enough of him being rude to me. I was going to stop him from being arrogant enough that he thought it was okay to push me around. I knew just the thing that would catch him off guard. "You didn't even touch your NerveGear when I left. You waited around for me just so you could use me to help you, because you knew I would. You rely on other people's strengths. You'll _never_ be as good as Ominous Blight," I spat. Oathkeeper looked at me with wide-eyed disbelief. Then his expression changed, like he would hit me. I was almost scared. Almost.

"Guys, just stop it," Aubade pleaded, "We're a team, remember? Look, we have a day off tomorrow, so it'll be good to take a break."

"You're right," Oathkeeper said, then looked at me, "I need a break to get as far away as possible from you!"

He logged out without another word. Aubade looked at me with an apologetic smile. "Don't worry, I'll talk some sense into him," He told me before saying goodbye for the night. I was just about to log out when I noticed that I had a new message. It was from Ominous Blight. It read:

 _I was able to get the day off tomorrow to meet up with Junko. She's got a few days before she has to get back on tour. Do you want to meet up with us?_

I replied with 'yes', and he instantly messaged me back. He told me to meet him outside Takeshita Street, and I smiled at the thought of talking to an old friend.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Oathkeeper said he rarely wakes up before noon if he didn't have to wake up for school, and Aubade told me he wouldn't wake up until much later. I started everyday at 8 o'clock in the morning because I didn't do a lot of active things at all. After I took a shower, dressed and had breakfast, I took the train to Harajuku Station. Just like any other day, the city of Shibuya was bustling with people. When I got out the exit of the station, I saw Ominous Blight staring at his phone right underneath the sign that said _Takeshita Street._

Contrary to his avatar, he was not tall nor muscly. Although we didn't see each other in real life as much as we used to, he still enjoyed being well-dressed. It was as if he was born in a suit, and today he wore a brown vest over a shirt that matched his dark blue suit. He had rolled the bottom of his slacks to reveal red socks and black sneakers. He was only two inches taller than me and just as thin as I was. He had a brown mop of curly hair and glasses like his father, Francesco Calliano, and a round face like his mother, Hikaru Utada. Because of his father's Italian background, Maguro Calliano stood out from most Japanese boys his age and was therefore very popular among the girls.

I also agreed that he was becoming attractive, and his easy-going and charismatic air topped it off, as they say. However, he was turning 18 in two months and I knew he only saw me as a little sister. I crossed the road and walked straight towards him. He noticed me when I was about a meter away from him, and he put his phone away. "Hey, Teru-chan," He grinned with ease, speaking in English to try and make me practice.

"Hi, Magu-kun," I said simply. On closer inspection, his square-rimmed glasses framed his boyish face and his bright blue eyes. "Where's Junko-san?"

"She'll meet us at Yoyogi Park when I take you back home," He answered, "Too many people around here so things might get a bit crazy."

Junko Calliano was Magu-kun's younger sister by two years. She was named after Hikaru-san's grandmother, and became more famous than either of them. She is now one of the biggest Japanese idols and is currently on a world tour. Magu-kun, on the other hand, was named after Maguro Taniguchi from the Japanese band _Kana-Boon_. Magu-kun didn't want to be a musician, but he's training to be an Audio Engineer for games while he works in KHO. "So where are we going?" I asked.

"In here," Magu-kun beckoned.

"But I don't have much money on me." "You don't need to worry about that, I'll shout you," He gleamed with excitement.

"What does that mean?" I frowned. "I'm paying for anything you want." "Are you sure? I'm not much of a shopper…"

"Yes I'm sure," He quickly got up behind me and started pushing me forward, making me walk into the entrance of Takeshita Street. I couldn't help but laugh at his silliness. He stopped after a lot of people were looking at us, and ran around to face me. "Now where do you wanna go?"

"Uh… I'm not sure," I looked around at all the small shops along the street. The pathway in-between the stores was only wide enough to fit pedestrians. "I haven't grown since I was 13, so I never felt the need to buy anything new for myself," I added.

"Then I shall be your stylist for today," He beamed and started to walk around me with deep observation from head to toe. Magu-kun was so passionate about the loud Tokyo Street fashion, it was a wonder that he chose to be a professional gamer over a personal stylist. He was wearing one of his milder outfits today, which wasn't necessary seeing as he was in the big city. If he wasn't such a lady's man, I might have assumed he was gay. Magu-kun muttered to himself, head in his hands, "Your theme is Lolita, but should I pick gothic or sweet?"

"Why are you putting me in Lolita?" I asked, slightly worried.

"Because I've never seen you wear a dress, and I know you'll hate me if I make you wear the really trendy stuff right now," He circled me one more time. Suddenly, he clicked his fingers, "That's it! I'll style you with classic Lolita. Come on."

We started walking down the street, and he turned his head to every little corner to find what he wanted. I didn't know much about Lolita, let alone fashion in general, but I knew he was going to make me wear a frilly dress. I would have refused if he wasn't so insistent on buying me something new. "How is Midori-senpai doing?" Magu-kun asked.

"I keep telling him to take it easy so his brain can recover," I harrumphed, "But he wants to get back to work as usual."

"He's stubborn," He grinned, then nudged me, "like someone else I know."

I bawled my fists in annoyance, but composed myself. He was only teasing. I took a deep breath and asked, "How is your family?"

"Dad is still going strong with the nightclub he runs, Mom is on tour with Junko," He spoke with pride, which was rather cute, "and well, Junko is being Junko — ooh, look! Let's go into that store."

I wasn't sure whether I was shocked that he didn't give the usual honorific to Junko-san or at his random outburst. I hoped that his lack of using honorific was because he wanted me to practice using English. Magu-kun practically waltzed into some clothing store, and I followed in tow. Many Lolita dresses were modeled on mannequins around the store, and the store itself was not much bigger than my room. Other than that, the store was made up of a few clothing racks, a change room and the lady standing behind a desk with a cash register.

Magu-kun went to each mannequin and compared it's dress to me, while I was trying to look interested at the shoes on display. "Teru-chan, I found the right dress for you!" Magu-kun called. I turned to see him pointing to a button-up, long-sleeved dress which was blue for the top half and cut in a straight line to show creamy material for the skirt. The end of the sleeves were ruffled with the same material used for the skirt, and the back of the dress showed that the blue half curved three quarters of the way down. The dress had a square plunge which would show my collarbones, and there were ribbons on either side of the plunge. "Do you like it?" Magu-kun asked.

"As long as it's not too revealing and you don't make me look like a Barbie doll," I shrugged.

"But you already are a doll," He winked. I rolled my eyes to hide my face warming up. After he paid for the dress, he implored, "Put it on!"

"Now?"

"Yes now," Magu-kun nodded, "I _would_ push you into the change room, but I'll get kicked out of this store for being a pervert, and I am anything but."

Magu-kun handed me the paper bag holding the dress, and I unbuttoned it as I walked towards the change room. Once inside, I stripped off my sweater and shorts. I kept my black tights and undergarments on and stepped into the dress and slipped it on. The dress felt smooth and fitted like a second skin. I used the mirror in front of me to button up the front, and I gasped. I can't remember the last time I wore a dress, but I didn't expect to look so…nice? The simplicity of the dress made me feel good. It was like Magu-kun knew that I would refuse to wear anything flashy or loud.

Speaking of which, I could hear his loud, cheerful voice outside. I could also hear the store employee giggling. I leaned against the door and stared at my sneakers. A wave of disappointment came over me. I should have known better than to think Magu-kun was buying me clothes because he liked me in that way. I wasn't good enough for him, and I never would be. He felt sorry for me, because I didn't have any other friends. I was a loner in the real world, and nothing could change that. It made me want to finish our outing, and to only contact each other in KHO. But then, why would he want to spend time with me if I wasn't good enough for him?

I glanced at the mirror again, and it reminded me of something important. I was the gamer Oblivion, who brought justice upon Chaos Ripper and saved the players of KHO. I wasn't some lovesick girl who was waiting to be rescued by her prince! I shook my head to get rid of the negative thoughts, put my old clothes into the bag and picked up my belongings. When I walked outside, the store employee noticed me and stopped speaking to Magu-kun, who in turn stopped speaking to her and faced me.

I had never seen him look at me like that before; the look on his face was strange. His glasses couldn't hide the intensity in his blue eyes, and I stared back at him nervously. He was always so expressive with his face and his gestures, but this time I didn't understand what emotion he was trying to show. It wasn't disgust or annoyance. It wasn't joy or humor. It was as if he was seeing me for the first time. "What do you think?" I asked him.

"Would you like to buy a pair of shoes to go with that dress?" The store employee asked in Japanese, breaking our gaze. Magu-kun snapped his head to my shoes and snorted.

"What's so funny?" I frowned. What was wrong with wearing Nike shoes?

"Those shoes with that dress? Nah-Uh!" He shook his head once, flicking his hair to the side. He spent another 5 minutes looking in the shoes section when he picked up a pair of black lace-up boots. "How about these?" He asked me.

"Sure, why not?" I shrugged. After Magu-kun paid for them, I regretted those words. I didn't realize the boots had heels, so standing on my own two feet was a struggle. I almost stumbled as I walked out on to the street. Magu-kun suppressed a giggle and held out his arm for support. I quickly intertwined my arm with his from the bend of our elbows, and noticed the color of his suit next to my sleeve. It was the exact same shade of blue. I had heard about couples dressing up to match each other. Was this a date? "Of course it is," Magu-kun grinned; I didn't know I let my thoughts slip from my mouth. He then winked, "I'll take you to a love hotel afterwards."

I couldn't hide my blushing face this time. I felt safe with his touch. But he was so full of himself! With us walking arm-in-arm, we looked like any other couple. If we were walking any closer to each other, it would discomfort the public. "I think we should stop for lunch instead," I muttered helplessly.

He nodded, "I know you get cranky when you're hungry, so that sounds like a good idea."

We stopped at _Marion Crêpes_. I guess you could say it was our "thing" to do from when I was the age of 5. Magu-kun's father would sometimes take us out to Harajuku to get away from the indoors of the Bunka Quint Building, and we started coming here by ourselves 2 years after. I ordered a crêpe filled with Nutella and banana slices, and Magu-kun ordered one with something fancy called Dulce de Leche. "What's that?" I asked.

"It's condensed milk basically," He shrugged, "You can try some if you want."

When we were given our crêpes, we swapped with each other like we used to. I took a small bite of the thin pancake and tasted Dulce de Leche. "It's a bit too sweet," I scrunched up my face in disgust. I forgot about Magu-kun's big sweet tooth. We swapped crêpes again, "Where are you taking me next?"

"Now that your outfit is complete, we're going to Yoyogi Park," He led me outside the entrance of Takeshita Street.

I asked him, "So you're not taking me to a love hotel?"

"You thought I was serious?"

I tightened my lips to stop myself from answering, and he burst into laughter. Why did he always mess around with me like that?

 **Disclaimer: Around July 2015, there was news that reported Hikaru Utada had a baby boy with her husband Francesco Calliano. I was not able to find out the name of their son, and I'm not predicting anything about the rest of their family. This was the same reason why I did not use Tetsuya Nomura as a character in this fanfic.**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

We turned right into the busy city of Shibuya. While we were eating, I almost fell over a few times and almost bumping into people I passed by. When he finished his crêpe, Magu-kun asked, "How is your party?" At the mention of a party, I thought of Oathkeeper and I bickering. "They remind me why I became a solo player," I sighed, "You don't argue with anyone when you're by yourself."

"Have you made a strategy?" "I wanted to use the method made by Mysterious Abyss, but they're rushing to beat Luxord," I shook my head, "We don't even have a party name."

He offered, "I can convince them if you want?"

"No," I said firmly, "This is my problem, not yours."

He crossed his arms in acceptance. It was nice of him to help, but if you can do something by yourself, why shouldn't you? I didn't become a level 100 player with my uncle's help, because I am my own person and can think for myself. Magu-kun was my closest friend, so I tried to cheer him up. "How is girlfriend number fifteen?"

"Gone with the wind." "Oh." "It's okay. She was a nice ride, but didn't like how I kept buying her presents," He shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, confused with his foreign slang once more. I could talk to him about the last part of his sentence another time.

He leaned in close to whisper in my ear, "Yariman."

I cowered. "What's wrong?" Magu-kun asked. I explained that Chaos Ripper called me that and it threw me off guard. If Oathkeeper hadn't run in between us, I would have been killed. Magu-kun's face screwed up in anger, "That's fucking despicable. Even in a virtual reality people have the balls to say things like that to each other. I would smash anyone's face in if I heard them call you that."

"Why weren't you helping to find him?" I finally asked after all this time, "Where have you been?"

"Chaos Ripper isn't the only one who's been hacking into KHO's system," He answered solemnly, "Midori-senpai asked me to lead a group of people to fight back petty criminals when the game monitors picked them up in the system. Otherwise, they become infamous like Chaos Ripper and tarnish the reputation of KHO. I've been logged in, but not where all the other players were. I was somewhere in the database. I don't think Midori-senpai is pleased with me for not being able to stop Chaos Ripper, which is why it was so easy for me to get the day off. I let your uncle down."

I took a moment to absorb this new information. It was only just recently that Oji-san began to distrust Magu-kun, and before that he felt indifferent towards him. He never gave a particular reason why he didn't like him, but now I knew. "He shouldn't be so hard on you," I said, "My friends and I fixed it up with Chaos Ripper."

"Yes, and I thank you for that," Magu-kun grinned softly, "But it's going to take a lot to get him to trust me again."

I nodded in agreement. "I have an idea," His face lit up. That look always made me mentally roll my eyes, "How about I spar with you online when you're not with your party?"

I thought back to my duel with Lionheart. It was pathetic how I barely survived. Then I remembered that Ominous Blight was watching. _That_ was embarrassing. "Sounds good," I replied.

"Great! Are you free tomorrow?" He beamed.

He pouted when I shook my head, and I stifled a chuckle. Then I suggested, "Oathkeeper is usually busy on Sundays, so I can spar with you then."

We arrived at Yoyogi Park 5 minutes later through the Harajuku entrance. "Junko wanted to meet us up at the observation deck, but you know where it is right?" Magu-kun stopped walking.

"Yes, it's this way," I linked arms with him once more and began walking straight ahead. Whenever I had spare time in between playing games and being homeschooled, I would take my dog out for a walk here to clear my head. In a way, Yoyogi Park was my backyard. Magu-kun and I walked along the wide footpath with a very small amount of people passing by. I noticed that Magu-kun looked at the scenery with wide eyes, meaning it was likely that he'd never been here before, let alone any park in his life.

Because it was Thursday at noon, it was easy for him to appreciate the park was filled with nature's beautiful greenery. A majority of the trees around us were Japanese zelkova and Japanese ternstroemia, which were at least 20 feet tall. "You've honestly never been here before?" I asked with amusement.

"You know I'm an indoor dog," Magu-kun shrugged. He then looked at me with a different kind of amusement, "A dirty indoor dog, that is."

This time, I understood his English metaphor. "I know this is none of my business, but why do you like casual…?" I started to ask.

"You don't have to be so formal about it, you're my best friend. But you honestly can't say it?" He mocked my previous question. I shook my head in earnest embarrassment. He chuckled, "Come on, you can do it."

I kept shaking my head, hoping he would give up. "Yes you can," He urged.

"Sex," I whispered.

"Good job," Magu-kun laughed one more time, and he answered, "It's simple really — I think it's fun. I don't feel tied down, and I get to learn a lot about girls. Then I can take her out to buy a present for giving me a good time."

"Do you ever get tired of buying presents?" I rolled my eyes.

"It's just how I show appreciation to the people I like and care about," He shrugged, "And besides, I have so much money from my job I don't know what to do with it."

"Onii-chan!" A loud, high-pitched voice turned our heads to see what was in front of us. Junko-san waved at us with both arms from the start of the observation deck. Whenever I saw her on television or in the news, she was always either dressed as Hatsune Miku or in a cosplay of an anime character. Seeing her standing a few paces away in a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt was strange.

"Hello, Imouto-chan!" Magu-kun changed to speaking in Japanese. He rushed forward in excitement, unaware that he was dragging me along. There was no doubt that he was proud of his little sister, and loved her very much. I braced myself and ran as much as my little feet could carry me. As we drew closer to his sister, Junko-san smiled at me with recognition. She looked just like her mother, but with the same blue eyes as Magu-kun.

"You two look adorable!" She clapped her hands against her cheeks, "What have you guys been up to?" "We went to Takeshita Street and Magu-kun bought me this outfit," I answered.

"I was going to say it looked cute on you," She nodded, "Wouldn't you agree, Onii-chan?"

Magu-kun hesitated to answer and tugged his arm away from me. He shoved his hands into his pockets. Since we stopped walking, I had no need for his support. I guess we were walking for quite sometime, so letting go of each other was like taking off a hat, but it was more than that. I felt sort of lost without his arm. It was only then that I realized this was the physically closest I had ever been to the opposite gender. When I decided that he wasn't going to come near me, I let my arm drop to my side.

Then he shrugged, "I can't say, I haven't seen her wear a dress since she was about 8."

"I can let you borrow some of my dresses, if you like?" Junko-san asked me.

"She won't wear them, she's too boring for that," He shook his head, "She doesn't even have Facebook."

Why the change of heart? Was it something I said? "It's been a long day for both of you. Maybe we should walk Teru-san home?" Junko-san suggested.

"Yes, I should go home now," I nodded, "Oji-san is waiting for me for our homeschool session."

We began walking to the other side of the observation deck, in the direction of home. It was only a ten minute walk from the park. The deck was a bridge that was about 6 meters high and wide, and 145 meters long. Magu-kun and Junko-san chatted to each other while I held onto the railing for support. I looked out into the rose garden in front of us. Unlike the red rose garden in Wonderland, this rose garden had a variety of colors such as pink, yellow and peach. Because Japan's season was at the peak of Spring, all the trees and flowers in the park blossomed at their full potential.

"It's been a few years since I've seen you, Teru-san," Junko-san spoke, and I looked to show my attention, "What do you do these days?" "I'm studying game programming, and playing online games to improve my English," I answered.

"That's cool, you're like Onii-chan," She nodded in approval, "It's a shame he didn't want to become a pop idol, otherwise we could be a duo. At least he's still making music if he's becoming an audio engineer."

"I _would_ be a singer if I could dance," Magu-kun joked.

We gradually started talking to Junko-san about her tour so far. The tour started in Canada and moved to the United States, and from there she performed in South America before going to Europe. She joked about how a fan from each country had jumped onto the stage during one of her songs, but she was grateful for their appreciation of her music. Fans had given her so many presents such as stuffed toys and jewelry that she didn't know what to do with it. She mentioned how Hikaru-san was always reminding her to stay hydrated and to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, which she didn't enjoy.

While Magu-kun and I were being babied by the young Square Enix staff, Junko-san was out having singing or dance lessons. It meant I only got a chance to interact with Junko-san whenever Magu-kun was having a birthday party. Although they were both outgoing, I found it hard to relate to Junko-san because she was so…girly. While I liked games, studying and playing with my pets, she enjoyed shopping, makeup and being with friends. Basically, it was hard for us to start a decent conversation because we were so different.

We reached the other side of the observation deck and I dreaded letting go of the railing. I somehow managed to take 5 steps without stumbling, then went crashing onto the grasslands to my right. I landed on my backside and saw Magu-kun shake his head with Junko-san looking a bit concerned. Magu-kun walked up to me and offered his hand, "Let me take your hand. I'm a sleaze, but what type of gentleman am I if I let a girl go home beaten up?"

I was more than happy to oblige, and we were arm-in-arm once more. "Are you alright, Teru-san?" Junko-san asked me when I came back to the footpath.

"Yes. It's my first time wearing heels," I admitted as we started walking again.

"Oh, I see," She said, slightly taken aback, "Maybe I could lend you some of my shoes?"

"That would be nice," I nodded. It made me feel sort of happy.

"Girls and their shoes," Magu-kun muttered.

The three of us talked about a lot of different things on the way to my home, but the one thing that we didn't talk about was Magu-kun's casual sex. He didn't feel comfortable with his family knowing about it, so it was a secret between him and I. The idea of casual sex was a bit odd to me, but it was Magu-kun's choice and his alone. However, I felt like he was hiding something from me as well. I'm sure he honestly thought it was fun, but I had a feeling he was having casual sex for a deeper purpose.

When we reached my house, we said our goodbyes and Junko-san said she would send some things in the mail. I also thanked Magu-kun for buying me the interesting outfit. As I unlocked the front door of my home, I had an epiphany. I turned around one last time to talk to Magu-kun, "One more thing. You shouldn't rely on presents to win a girl's heart."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

I logged into KHO a day after my meeting with Magu-kun and Junko-san. I met Oathkeeper and Aubade at the Queen's Court. When they saw me walk over, they stopped their conversation. "Hello," I started.

"Hey," Aubade replied. Oathkeeper remained silent.

"Should we talk about our strategy first?" I continued. Aubade nodded, and Oathkeeper glared at me. I ignored him and said, "We should get to know each other's abilities better, so I'll start. I'm an attacker, meaning that I hit hard but I can get hit just as hard. What about you, Aubade?"

"I'm a tank," He answered, "It's sort of a universal term, so I'm not really sure what else to add."

"Why _did_ you help me when I came back?" Oathkeeper finally said something.

"Why did you want me to help you?" I replied.  
"Answer my question first, damn it!"

I couldn't avoid this question, and the thought of answering it suddenly made my face warm. "…Because you are my friend," I couldn't look him in the eye, so I stared at his shoes instead. When I got some of my courage back, I said, "Now answer my question."

He licked his lips nervously, "It doesn't matter anymore."  
"What? Why?" I demanded.

He sighed, "I dumped my girlfriend."  
"And? What does that have to do with this?"  
"Because I wanted to spend time with you!" Oathkeeper gave in, "I really like you, but you're not who I thought you were."

… He _likes_ me? I didn't know what to say, so I said, "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Oathkeeper sighed again. We broke our gaze at one another and stared awkwardly at the ground. I was brought up on schedules and lists, so I hated surprises. I wasn't sure whether I liked this surprise or not. I guess this was the downside to making friends; there would be people who wanted to be more than friends.

"Ready to join the team again?" Aubade interrupted.

"Yeah," He shrugged, "I'm also an attacker."  
"Okay," I nodded, "It's not a balanced party, but we can deal with it. We just need a name."

"How about _Oblivion and her bitches?_ " Someone from behind me answered.

"I don't think the system allows that," I turned to see Lionheart with his own party, "and I wasn't planning to be the leader."

"You're the most logical choice because you're the strongest," He told me.  
"Why did you call your team Megaflare?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I? My friends are absolutely mind-blowing in every way."

"Why not _Lionheart and his bitches?_ " Aubade asked.

"…Because they're not bitches."

"Exactly, so we're not calling ourselves that," He shook his head.

"You know, you remind me of a tabby tub," Lionheart stepped menacingly forward, "blabbing off like you're 1."

"Sir, I think you meant to say teletubby," Divine Rose spoke in a stage whisper, and small titters were heard from the rest of the party. Once again, his angelic avatar of dark blue hair, green eyes and a petite frame made me forget that he was actually a grown man.

"That's what I said," Lionheart tried to speak with assurance like always, but everyone could sense his embarrassment. This made his seven other party members struggle to hold in their laughter, except for Divine Rose, who looked sorry for his leader. They all looked so grim and powerful in their dark armor that it weirded me out. It was good that they weren't scared of Lionheart; I believed a good leader didn't strike fear in his followers.

"Thank you, I'll use it," I spoke up.

"You can't be serious," Aubade groaned, "we are _not_ calling ourselves Teletubbies."

"I meant tabby tub."  
"That's even worse!"

"Then I don't know," I sighed. The name of the party didn't have to mean something to me, but it had to be something. I asked, "Can you think of anything, Oathkeeper?"

It was strange how quiet he was, considering his idol was in front of him.

"How about Highwind?" Oathkeeper suggested, "It was the name of Sora's raft."

"It sounds good to me," Aubade said, and I nodded in agreement.

" _Oblivion and her bitches_ still sounds better," Lionheart joked as I opened up my main menu. There was an option that said, "Make/join a party". I tapped it and paid 300 in munny to open up the Highwind Party. The items in our storage included two keyblades: 'Skull Noise' from clearing Traverse Town and 'Two Become One' from clearing Radiant Garden. "I hope you enjoy the new party," Lionheart waved us goodbye, "Good luck to you cats."

Our newly formed party devised a strategy to beat Luxord. Afterwards, we picked the card on the furthest left, right and left. The third one revealed Luxord, and he stepped out of his hiding place. I wanted to celebrate, but this was only the beginning of the boss battle. "Scatter!" Luxord threw his arm forward. About a dozen cards shot out of his sleeve and expanded to the size of my normal height, and I was glad that Lightning was a tall girl. On one side of a card was a Nobody symbol, while the other side showed either an 'X' like Roxas's weapon or an 'O'. My party stood back to back as the cards flipped around us like revolving doors. In the ideal setting, the cards weren't that big a deal, but the Tea Party Garden was as crowded as ever.

"Now what?" Aubade asked.

"Hit the cards with the 'O' symbol; we don't have to attack a card together," I answered, raising my voice over the fluttering of cards, "Hitting the 'O' stuns Luxord and gives us time on our time gauge and hitting the 'X' makes our gauge drop to zero. Get an 'O' four times to stop the cards and attack Luxord."  
"Got it," Oathkeeper nodded before leaping forward and attacking. We all managed to attack an 'O' card each, and Luxord was stunned while dropping HP orbs for us to gain. "Shit!" Aubade griped. He must have hit an 'X'. I turned to see Luxord command his cards to attack us, and it was game over.

An hour later, the Highwind Party was sitting outside the Tea Party Garden. "Sorry," Aubade cowered when he saw Oathkeeper and I.

"It was very crowded with all those cards, so you didn't have a lot of room to move your keyblade," I shook my head, "It was an accident."

"It's okay," Oathkeeper playfully punched his friend in the shoulder, "I'm happy we got through the first stage."  
I was glad that he wasn't angry anymore, because it meant we could start working together properly. We attempted to get through Stage 2 twice and called it a day. Oathkeeper wanted to have the weekend off to celebrate our first success as an official party.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

I logged into KHO after my Saturday homeschool session. I ended up at the Queen's Court once more and messaged Ominous Blight. I asked if he had time to spar with me, and he replied 3 minutes later telling me to meet him at Radiant Garden. I put on my armor and called upon my Glider. I wondered if I should give it a name like Aubade did with his Gummi Ship. Maybe Naruto, or Kurama? I laughed at the idea as I travelled through the Corridor of Darkness, but then spotted some Shadow Heartless coming at me. Drawing my keyblade, I easily wiped them out before arriving at Radiant Garden.

Ominous Blight was lounging around by himself and sniffing a pink rose when my Glider landed at the Outer Gardens. I knew he was just putting on a show; you couldn't smell anything in a virtual reality. I stepped off my Glider and he came walking over to me as my armor disappeared. "For you," He held out the rose to me. Ominous Blight was even more charming because of his exotic-looking avatar. If only he was being serious.

"No thank you," I shook my head, not knowing what else to do.

He sighed dramatically, throwing the rose behind him, "Fine, let's get down to business."

I almost summoned my keyblade when he stopped me, "Whoa! No way. We're starting with something easier. Hand-to-hand combat."

"Why?" I demanded, annoyed. He was supposed to be helping me get better at wielding the keyblade.

"There's nothing wrong with how you handle your keyblade," Ominous Blight explained, "but you shouldn't let it define the way you fight. So hit me with all you've got."

Without questioning, I ran at him with a swing and he caught my hand before I knew what was happening. "Tranquil as a forest, but on fire within," He told me before flipping me over his head. I tried to catch my bearings, but thudded to the ground on my stomach. I lifted my head to see his foot ready to kick me, "Once you find your center," He said. I pushed myself onto one knee and blocked him with my arms, "you are sure to win."

I pushed off my leg and aimed to knee him in his stomach, but he pushed it back down and said, "You must be swift as the coursing river. With all the force of…"  
Now that I was standing, I planned to get him with some jabs. "A…great…typhoon," He said with each time he dodged my elbows. I then realized he was singing a song, but it wouldn't distract me from beating him. "With all the strength of a raging fire," I pushed my palm into his face, but he blocked my attack once more. However, the force sent him sliding back on his feet. He then opened up his arms and theatrically bellowed, "Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!"

I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. It was insulting that he could focus on singing while sparring with me. "Sorry, that song was stuck in my head for a long time," Ominous Blight smiled sheepishly.

"How am I doing?" I chose to ignore his musical performance.  
"Don't expect me to block you," He turned serious, "Believe in yourself and aim to be faster than me."

Our sparring session lasted for an hour, and he didn't sing again. I hit him maybe once or twice in that hour. I spent most of the time trying to figure out Ominous Blight's attack patterns, and all I got was that he liked throwing his opponents into the air. I couldn't see a pattern with Lionheart, and it made me wonder why. "Are players faster when they use their keyblades?" I asked my friend. We sat cross-legged on the stone pavement.

"Hell yeah," Ominous Blight nodded, "Even basic keyblades make you faster than the average human. That's why the Shadow Heartless seem so slow."  
"Does Lionheart have an attack pattern?"  
"Everyone does, including him," He said. Him and Lionheart were pitted against each other by other players because they were the best Dark Keyblade Wielders, which led them to duel each other occasionally, "He likes using _Counter Aura_ when he's in trouble."

I remembered the shield he used to protect himself as well as counterattack after I used _Thundaga_ on him. That must have been the time I scratched him. "Speaking of which, he told me that you and your friends made an official party," Ominous Blight interrupted my thoughts. I nodded curtly, and he rolled his eyes, "The last I heard, you were fighting with them. How did you go with Luxord?"

"We made it through the first stage but didn't beat him," I said, "It didn't matter, because Oathkeeper was happy that we were getting better. He was so happy that we're taking the weekend off to celebrate."

"…Why were you guys fighting in the first place?" He asked.

"He blamed me for not getting through the first stage," I answered.

"That dick."

"He tried not to talk when we were setting up a strategy."

"That asshole!"  
"…And he said he dumped his girlfriend because he liked me."  
"That…!" His voice was on autopilot, but he changed his response, "That's… Do you like him too?"

As you could probably tell, I didn't get out much and nor did I want to. I was happy staying in the bubble that was the house I lived in and the games that I was good at playing. But when someone asks you a big question, you take notice of their body language. That was the bad thing about me avoiding to talk to people. I couldn't tell when someone really meant what they said or if they were toying with me. Magu-kun tried to make me relax whenever I was around him, but I couldn't do that without being set up for a joke or a flirty pickup line.  
The animators at Square Enix continuously experimented with graphics, because it was one of their specialties. The ones working on KHO tried to make avatars interactive with their player-counterparts. They could match the mouth, the facial lines and brows, but couldn't quite reach the eyes. At this very moment, Ominous Blight's mouth was in a tight line, his facial lines were in a grimace and his brows were furrowed. However, it was Wol's serious brown eyes that looked back at me, not Magu-kun's blue doe-eyes. Two days ago, I was too embarrassed to look at them. And now, I wanted to see them more than ever — because they never lied.

"Never mind," Ominous Blight looked away from me, doubtful, "I shouldn't be asking that, it's too personal."

"It's not that," I shook my head, "I'm not sure if I like him like that. I don't know him very well."  
"You don't need to know someone very well to like them," He winked, getting back to his usual self.

I snorted, "You would know."

We laughed at that, and he stood up, "Since you're free for the weekend, and I'm off my shift — do you want to hang out at J-World tonight?"


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Magu-kun and I were standing on my doorstep at around 7 o'clock, just having come back from J-World. There weren't many rides, and it was mostly for children, but we relived what we loved from One Piece, Dragon Ball and Naruto. "I liked _Ninkai Taisen Emaki._ How about you?" Magu-kun beamed through his glasses. _Ninkai Taisen Emaki_ was an obstacle course where you helped Naruto and his friends defeat rogue ninja.

"You're very energetic, so I guess you would," I joked, "I liked finding the Dragon Balls." Because we were running around in a theme park, Magu-kun's attire was more relaxed than usual. He wore a plain buttoned shirt with jeans and black loafers. "That Dragon Ball interactive thing was pretty basic," He shrugged. There was also a short virtual reality game where you released Kamehameha with Goku to beat Freeza.

"You could tell that to Oji-san," I said. Right after I mentioned him, Oji-san opened the front door to find the two of us standing there. He looked suspiciously at Magu-kun and only opened the door wide enough for his head to peer through.

"Midori-senpai," Magu-kun rushed to greet him with a medium bow, or _keirei_.

"What did you want to say to me?" Oji-san asked reservedly.

"Oh, n-nothing… Just, uh…" Magu-kun stuttered in Japanese, looking at me for help, "Teru-chan and I were talking about the virtual reality game at J-World."

"Oh, how was it?"

"The Kamehameha game is um, very amateur compared to _Kingdom Hearts Online._ "

"That's nice to hear," Oji-san opened the door wider so that he was facing us completely, "Speaking of my game, would you like to do a product demonstration for the release of Scrooge McDuck's Auction House this Tuesday?"  
"Yes please!" He said a bit quickly, but then he cleared his throat and went for a serious expression, "I mean, what product do I get to demonstrate?"

"How about 'Oathkeeper'?" Oji-san suggested, "And then it's all yours after the demonstration."

Magu-kun was so excited that he nodded fiercely. I was surprised myself — Oji-san had already finished developing my idea and was seriously giving Magu-kun a chance to redeem himself! "Will there be other players doing demonstrations?" I asked. I didn't expect Oji-san to ask me; I wasn't exactly a favorite among players.

"I only just finished the concept today, so Magu-san was the first player I asked," Oji-san chuckled, "but I was considering some of the high-ranking players like Diamond Dust and Circle of Life."

I had never spoken to either of those players, but I heard a lot about them. Diamond Dust was a female solo player ranked the 9th best in KHO. She seemed very modest, which gave her a charming and attractive quality. Combined with the fact that she used a Selphie avatar, it made her popular among male players and perhaps the most popular female player in the entire game. Circle of Life was a male player with a Luneth avatar and was a tank. He seemed very carefree, which was a bit worrisome because he was the adviser of the Triple Plasma Party.

All in all, they were appropriate choices to demonstrate products. The other top ten players were too brash and theatrical, unless you included me. They reminded me of Pokemon gym leaders. "Thank you for selecting me," Magu-kun bowed to Oji-San again, "I look forward to wielding 'Oathkeeper'."

He said farewell to the two of us and went in the direction of the nearest train station. "It's amazing that you finished the auction house so quick," I said as I stepped into the house.

"There's a lot of new technology coming out which makes it easier for us to get things done," Oji-san explained, shutting the door behind me, "and how was J-World?"

"It wasn't as fun as it used to be, but Magu-kun is such a big kid. He makes everything seem fun," I admitted.

"At least he's not upsetting both of us," He muttered.

"I thought giving him 'Oathkeeper' was you forgiving him?"

"I kind of regret it now. It's strange giving a Dark Keyblade Wielder that particular keyblade," He said, "But I wanted a variety of players to demonstrate on Tuesday. Maguro has the ability to make everyone feel excited, Circle of Life can calm him down if need be and Diamond Dust is the most normal female player in the top ten."  
"Am I that weird?" I asked.

"It's not completely your fault, but you're antisocial," He chuckled, "which makes you seem aloof and cold."

I nodded, and he added, "If you want to make friends, try smiling like you do when you're around Maguro."

"You were watching us?"  
"Only in KHO," He shrugged. Seeing my mortified look, he said, "As your mother's brother it is my duty to look out for you, but I can't protect you all the time."

"Protect me from what, exactly?" I asked.

"Haraguro like that boy," Oji-san whispered.

"He is not a haraguro!"  
"He's a celebrity's child, they all do strange things."  
"Hikaru-san is fairly normal," I pointed out.

When three days had passed, I dragged Oathkeeper and Aubade to the Fourth District of Traverse Town. I didn't give them any details beforehand, but because I was apparently the party leader, I didn't have to. After fighting through the Heartless, we stood below the pink Meow Wow blimp and in front of the glowing entrance where a small crowd of people gathered. "Will you tell us what's going on?" Oathkeeper demanded for the tenth time that day.

His question was answered right there when Circle of Life appeared from nowhere in armor that reminded me of Tron. It was comical to see him wear it, because Luneth's clothing was ordinary compared to the technically advanced appearance of the armor. Ominous Blight then stepped out from the crowd with a glimmering 'Oathkeeper' in hand. Compared to Circle of Life, his determined expression showed that he was ready to cut to the chase. " _Chaos Blade!_ " He charged forward and disappeared in darkness after each time he struck Circle of Life. We all gasped, since Circle of Life's health bar hardly dropped with each hit he took. He himself barely staggered, which had nothing to do with the armor he wore. His reputation as a tank player proceeded him.

Diamond Dust stepped out from the crowd as well. Summoning her own keyblade, she held it in front of her with both hands and said, " _Gifted Miracle._ "

A white glow surrounded her and the players around her, healing their health points. A few _oohs_ were emitted by some of the male players, amazed from seeing their idol in a goddess-like glow. As the three players continued fighting, I scanned the crowd and was happy to see that they were amazed at the display. I'm sure that Oji-san was happy, too, wherever he was. It was hard to tell where he was, because he liked changing his avatar every time he logged into the game. He preferred to blend in so that he could hear accurate reviews on his game, sort of like a director standing in an auditorium after his stage show has finished.

After the demonstration finished, the three players bowed and the crowd erupted in applause. Ominous Blight raised his hand to silence them, and he announced, "Thank you for coming out to see us. However, this display is not about us — it's about you. The Tron armor, _Gifted Miracle_ command and 'Oathkeeper' keyblade are available at McDuck's Auction House, which is right passed this doorway. You can bet on these products amongst others with the Munny you have earned."

An uproar of excited murmurs followed. Unless you were still focused on the three players, you wouldn't have noticed that they were slowly making their escape from the crowd. Ominous Blight spotted me with his dark brown eyes, and I knew he wanted to give 'Oathkeeper' to me. But as he walked towards me, he decided against it and put his keyblade into Oathkeeper's hands, "It's all yours, buddy. Take care of it."

Oathkeeper was too stunned to protest as Ominous Blight disappeared in the ocean of people. I didn't feel betrayed by my best friend. If I wanted 'Oathkeeper', I would have already had it in my possession. "Well, that guy is on my favorite people list," Aubade nodded.

"That's why I wanted to come here, but we should probably go to Wonderland now," I beckoned.

"Holy shit!" Oathkeeper finally said, still clutching his new weapon, "I can't believe Ominous Blight just gave me his keyblade!"

"Good, now you can test it out in Wonderland," Aubade worked along with my plan and summoned 'Way to the Dawn' with one flick of his arm. He slammed the head of the keyblade on the ground and his donut-shaped Gummi Ship jetted towards us from nowhere. The door of the ship opened as he and I pushed Oathkeeper in.

"YES!" Aubade jumped gleefully an hour later. The word 'CONGRATULATIONS' hung above us in a golden font as gold confetti rained down on us. We stood in the Tea Party Garden, having just defeated Luxord. Oathkeeper held his hand out to me, smiling sheepishly. I took it as a sign to shake his hand because it was a part of western culture. However, he gave me a confused look.

"What?" I asked.

"You don't do high fives?" He raised his brow at me. I turned my attention to the ground, embarrassed. I remembered what Oji-san said to me last night, and I wanted to prove him wrong. To his surprise, I took Oathkeeper's hand and made our palms bounce off each other. He laughed slightly, "You're so weird."

I couldn't tell if he was insulting me or complimenting me, so I laughed along with him. It was a generalization to think that all Japanese girls had high-pitched voices, but I was one of them. My laugh was like a dolphin's with many oinks while his laugh was low and growly. As our laughter died down, he simply smiled at me through his Noctis avatar. It was an honest smile and it made me feel at peace, so I smiled back. I could see softness in his eyes that I never saw before, and the silence shared between us was the most comfortable silence I ever had with someone. "Guys, look!" Aubade interrupted us.

We turned to him and saw a bronze crown slowly descending onto the top of his head. His avatar was Squall, who looked a bit odd wearing a crown. Nonetheless, I was happy for him and started to applaud. "Good job, mate," Oathkeeper patted him on the shoulder, "You deserve it."

"Thanks, guys," Aubade smiled shyly. We decided to call it a night and planned to keep grinding in Wonderland until the next world was released.

When Oji-san arrived home from work, I was finishing eating dinner. Despite being tired, he looked pleased. "Maguro the haraguro did a good deed," He said. I nearly snickered at Magu-kun's new nickname, but Oji-san wasn't finished talking, "Even he isn't so selfish. It's nice to think he has a bit of humility."

I nodded, and not just because it was one of those times where I didn't know what to say. It mainly because my mouth was full of ramen noodles. Oji-san helped himself to a serving and joined me at the dinner table. After slurping some of the miso, his face lit up in delight, "You're getting better at making ramen."  
"Thank you," I smiled, holding back how proud I felt. "How is the auction house going?"

"Around five hundred people betted on something and two hundred left the house with a new item," Oji-san replied, letting his chopsticks collect more noodles, "there's also a growing number of accounts reopening and new members joining."

"That sounds good," I tried something else instead of nodding.

"Speaking of which," He placed his chopsticks down to look at me, "do you have any other ideas to get more players online?"

I thought that he might have asked his co-workers, so I was surprised that he was asking me personally. On the other hand, this was a chance for me to take my homeschool lessons outside the textbook and into real life. " _World of Warcraft_ is currently holding a tournament for leagues, so maybe we should try something like that?" I suggested.

"I'll talk to my team about it," Oji-san nodded.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"Phew! That was close," Oathkeeper wiped some pretend sweat off his brow, "He nearly got me there."

"You're welcome," Aubade muttered as we walked out of the Tea Party Garden once more. It had been a week since the opening of Scrooge McDuck's Auction House. Ominous Blight and I continued to spar with each other whenever the Highwind Party wasn't active, but he was 'busy' outside of the virtual reality. Aubade was now at level 27, Oathkeeper was a level 16 (both of us had only returned to KHO 2 weeks ago) and I was still at level 100. Today was just like any other Tuesday in the month of May.

"Hey Oblivion, do you think I should get me some armor?" Oathkeeper asked.

"It doesn't do much," I shrugged, "It just protects you from the darkness when you're travelling in between worlds. You use a Gummi Ship, so there's no point of you using one."

"Okay then, but is there anything I can buy to get stronger?" He insisted.

"You have an 'Oathkeeper', what more could you want?" Aubade smirked. But Oathkeeper wasn't joking. He looked determined about finding something that could help him, and I remembered the fight we had.

I sighed, "If this is about what I said, I didn't mean it—"

"But you were right," He cut in, "I feel like I'm holding you guys back, and I don't like it."

Aubade and I were both unsure of what to say to him. I didn't see him as a weak player, but even if he was, I wouldn't expect him to admit that. Oathkeeper had convinced me that he was pushing to be dominant and arrogant; if he was a deadly sin, he would be pride. Him asking for help was a big deal for everyone involved. My practical side kicked in and made me think of what he needed. "Don't get another item just yet," I said, "get another attack accessory."

"What kind?" He listened carefully.

"You're not very good at covering your blind spot, so get _Ripple Drive_."  
He frowned at my comment, but tapped the air in front of him nonetheless. He opened up the catalog for items on sale at the auction house. It was a convenient tool in a player's menu so that you didn't have to physically be in Traverse Town to bet on something. Oathkeeper used his index finger to scroll through the items, and to Aubade and I it looked like he was drawing a vertical line in the air over and over again. Before I started giggling at the silliness of it, Aubade asked, "What does _Ripple Drive_ do?"  
Oops. "It's a combo finisher that lets out an aura to attack enemies around you," I answered.

"Sounds perfect for him."

Come to think of it, the move reminded me of the dark counter aura that Lionheart had used against me. Both moves worked the same way, but _Ripple Drive_ had a peach-like aura. "Guys, take a look at this," Oathkeeper said stiffly. He used two hands to rotate his screen and the catalog appeared. "Look at the prices," He said.

" _Ripple Drive_ is at a reasonable price," Aubade scanned the screen.

Oathkeeper shook his head, "No really, _look_ at it."

I noticed what was wrong just as he spoke. The price of an item usually had the word 'Munny' on its right side, but every few seconds, the word would change to 'Hunny' and back again. "That shouldn't be happening," I said, feeling nervous for Oji-san, "I'll message my uncle."

I was hoping that this glitch wasn't a big deal, otherwise KHO wouldn't have any players left.

Before Oji-san left for work the next day, he asked me to bring my party to speak to him once I logged in. When I met up with Oathkeeper and Aubade in Wonderland, I told them about the situation. "Is this about what happened yesterday?" Oathkeeper asked.

"Very likely," I nodded. We took the Corridor of Darkness to Traverse Town where Oji-san wanted to meet us. We went to the third floor of Cid's Shop and a player with a Wakka avatar approached us.

"Thank you for coming to see me. I sent Ominous Blight to investigate the glitch, and he has three suspects," He spoke with Oji-san's voice. If it weren't for the serious topic at hand, I would have laughed at his attempt to be hip. "They are players who go by the names of Lady Luck, Divewing and Lionheart, and he picked these three because of their consistent attendance at the auction house. Therefore, they are close enough to the venue itself so they can tamper with it."  
"Maybe you should warn people about the glitch…?" Aubade suggested.

"No," Oji-san almost snapped. Noticing the tone in his voice, he took a deep breath and said, "If this goes public, I could lose more players than last time. Please don't tell anyone, under any circumstances. I also want to ask if you will help Ominous Blight by going undercover and speaking to these suspects."

I was impressed that Oji-san had trusted my best friend with this important task, but I was also surprised that he already had leads. However, I wasn't convinced by these leads. Lady Luck was ranked around #3 out of all the players in the game, (the rankings changed every day) meaning she was a better player than Ominous Blight but not as good as Lionheart. So why would she need to cheat and what for? Divewing seemed the most likely culprit. He was quiet, so no one would notice him. I was also getting ahead of myself. I didn't even think about whether my friends wanted to do this or not. It was selfish of me, but I would do anything for him, so I nodded at my uncle and waited for their responses.

"I don't want this game to close down, so I'm in," Oathkeeper answered.

"Me too," Aubade said, "and besides, we've met all of those players, so it shouldn't be hard."

"Thank you so much," Oji-san sighed in relief, "It will be a big load off Ominous Blight's shoulders."

He left us in the room to attend other business matters, so the Highwind Party came up with a plan. "Let's go find Lionheart," Aubade piped up, "He's the most obvious one so let's get it over and done with."

I was surprised at his outburst. It was true Lionheart was quite the character, but he had a good heart. I could see Aubade was judging the culprit by character as opposed to me judging them by their wants. "Don't be a dick," Oathkeeper whacked his shoulder.

"I was actually thinking of talking to Divewing," I cut in before they could argue.

"Why?" They both glared.

"He's not a high level player so he would have more to gain from hacking than the other two," I pointed out. Then, my lips curled into a grin, "Unless you want to start with Lady Luck?"  
"Nope, I'm good."  
"She's creepy."

It was settled. We were going to see Divewing first, and Aubade happened to know where he was, seeing as his girlfriend was in a party with him.

 **Author's note: Hiya, you haven't heard from me personally in a while. If you were curious, here is a timeline of the series so far:**

 **2027\. Amaterasu becomes an orphan.**

 **Friday April 8 2033. Pazu Midori is put in a coma. Most of KHO 1 takes place.**

 **Saturday April 9 2033. The trio are presented with awards and Oblivion's face is revealed.**

 **Monday April 11 2033. Colton dumps Tori and takes hiatus on KHO.**

 **Monday May 2 2033. Oblivion and Oathkeeper return to KHO.**

 **Tuesday May 3 2033. The trio enter Wonderland and meet Ominous Blight.**

 **Tuesday May 10 2033. Scrooge McDuck's Auction House opens.**

 **Wednesday May 18 2033. Criminal activity is suspected at the Auction House.**

 **Basically the timeline of KHO 2 has only been 2 weeks, surprisingly. From here on out, the story will speed up now that there is a potential antagonist on the loose. Who do you think it is? I would love to hear from everyone who reads my stories, so don't forget to leave a review!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

We came to Radiant Garden and went into neutral territory to meet the Snap Crackle Pop Party, as they were called. Oathkeeper and Aubade sat on a bench while I stood, waiting. "Has your girlfriend said much about Divewing?" I asked Aubade.

He shrugged his shoulders in his Squall-leathered jacket, "Not really, she just says he doesn't talk much. I guess we know nothing about him."

"Hi, honey toast!" I heard Unbound's voice call out to us. We turned to see her arriving at the Radiant Garden Shops with End of Pain and Divewing in tow. Aubade stood up to attention. For whatever reason, this made Unbound start running towards him. He opened his arms in front of her and she jumped straight into them. Aubade spun on the spot in laughter and she gave a small yelp for joy. It looked like something from a movie, and I felt weird being the audience. Things like this just didn't happen in Japan.

Divewing approached me, and I felt the instinct to draw out my weapon even though neither of us could. Instead, he repeated his introduction to me, "My name is Divewing, I am 25-years-old, I like long romantic walks on the beach and I am single."

I still didn't understand why he was willingly telling me this information. I knew he was trying to be charming in his Zack Fair avatar, but it wasn't working. I wasn't going to give him any information about me unless it helped my mission. But why would someone who likes walking on the beach want to hack into a game system? "Howdy darlin'," End of Pain winked at me.

"Congratulations on becoming a Novashadow," I nodded. He must have been around the same level as Aubade. I then asked, "Why haven't you moved on to Wonderland yet?"

"W-we're waiting for Unbound to level up into her Dusk form," Divewing stammered.

"Speaking of which, it's great to see that crown on your head," I heard Unbound say to Aubade.

"Thanks babe," Aubade gushed.

It was only then that I realized that I didn't have a plan. I felt nervous when I didn't know what I was doing, so I hoped that either Oathkeeper or Aubade had something in mind. Chasing down Chaos Ripper was much easier than pretending to be nice to someone so they trusted you. "Hey, have any of you guys seen that different type of money in the catalog?" She asked.

Aubade and I tried to look somewhat surprised. Not because someone else other than us knew, but as if this was news to us. "I have!" Oathkeeper piped up. I wanted to hit him for that.

"Do you think it's a new update?" Unbound turned to him.

"I have no idea," Oathkeeper shrugged, pretending to be clueless.

"Or maybe it's another glitch!" Her eyes lit up with a weird fascination.

Did she just say what I think she said? "What do you know about glitches?" I glared.

Aubade snapped back at me, "Don't talk to my girlfriend like that."

"Wait, what did I do?" Unbound asked, confused. Great, Aubade blew it.

I sighed, "There's something wrong with the catalog and we were asked to find out who it is. I thought you were hacking into the system."

"Well, I'm not," She simply shook her head.

"We originally thought Divewing was the one who did it, which is why we wanted to meet up with you," Aubade admitted.

Divewing looked at us with disbelief and said, "I wouldn't know how to do something like that. And I love this game too much to destroy it."

A silence fell over us. I'm sure they were waiting for me to say something, but if I said something now, I would explode. I stared at the ground fuming instead. Did these so-called friends have any sense of secrecy at all? It hadn't been an hour and they already forgot that my uncle didn't want us to tell the whole world what we were up to! I counted to ten before making eye contact with Oathkeeper. "I guess we should call it a day," He smiled sheepishly.

I nodded and turned to Aubade, "I'm sorry about wrongly accusing your girlfriend."

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to her!"

So I did just that, and she willingly forgave me as if I did nothing wrong. But when I looked back at Aubade, something in him snapped, "You are no friend of mine! I hold no feelings towards you and to be honest, you bore me. Your leadership skills suck, all you can do is boss us around and your so-called strategies are horrible and hold zero importance to any living thing on this planet. Boy, I'm sure glad Oathkeeper rejected your sorry ass. You'd settle for a fucking hobo if he offered his dick to you! At least I can have sex with Ebony, hold her and tell her how much I love her, kiss her. And even be around her."

And then he logged out. I was at a loss for words. Unbound smiled at me apologetically and logged out too, probably to chase after him. I felt numb with frustration and confusion. End of Pain and Divewing awkwardly said farewell, and rightly so. They didn't deserve to see something like that. I didn't even speak as each of them left, and it had nothing to do with the system. Oathkeeper walked over to me and seemed to free me from whatever I was trapped in, "I don't know what that was about, but give him time to cool off. And for the record, I didn't reject you. I know this is a bad time, but would you want to go out with me?"

Up until now, I thought I was the strange person. But really, how did these people live? Their backgrounds and cultures seemed so different to mine, it felt like we couldn't work together. I looked at Oathkeeper and the hopeful look in his eyes. "I've had other...offers," I lied, and did my best to look into his eyes and smile, "but I'll think about it."

I saw the tone in his eyes change to something more dull and lifeless. "Oh," He said simply, "maybe I need some time alone as well."

He logged off, too.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Without even thinking about it, I logged into KHO the next day. When I arrived at Traverse Town, I realized it was Thursday, meaning it was meant to be a day-off. I felt obliged to message Ominous Blight to spar with me, but he was probably too busy with the case. And with what happened yesterday... Maybe I needed some time alone, too. I walked through the First District, blindly wandering it's premises. I tried to look out for someone I knew. There was bound to be a familiar face here, right?

Apparently no. Judging from the variety of avatars, new players were exploring this reality for the first time. Instead of using characters from ' _Kingdom Hearts_ ' or ' _Final Fantasy_ ', I saw characters from game series such as ' _Dragon Quest_ ', ' _Mana_ ' and ' _The World Ends With You_ '. Seeing as I've played all games made by Square, it was nice to see them being recycled. With this in mind, I planned to go to the Auction House. I headed in the direction of the doors which led to the Back Streets, but before I could reach them, someone approached me from the cafe, "Hello, are you Oblivion-san?"

I was used to strangers approaching me in-game, but this time it was different. It was like I was always meant to meet this person, and it's weird of me to say because I don't believe in fate or destiny. I was always taught that without a plan, you planned to fail.

With his green handkerchief and orange jacket, I recognized the character of Hope Estheim. He looked at me through light blue-green eyes, and the way he smiled made me think he seemed quite young. The fact that he used the honorific of san meant he was either a weaboo or also Japanese. "Yes, I am," I nodded. I could have spoken in Japanese to throw him off, but I liked practicing English online.

"I've been playing this game for awhile and I really like how strong you are. So I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight like you?" He asked in a child-like voice.

"...Maybe not now," I looked towards the doors behind him, "I have an errand to run."

"Oh, right," His eyes drooped slightly, "Let me know when you want to."

I was a bit confused at this request. There was something itching in the back of my mind, something important about helping someone like this. "What's your name?" I asked while thinking abut that itch.

"Knockout Punch," He answered with enthusiasm, "I'm 13-years-old. I've played all of the 'Kingdom Hearts' games except com and coded."

That's right, I remembered.

"Actually, I'm not sure if I can help you," I said, "I'm not qualified."

"But you're the best player in the game! You have to be."

"I mean, I'm not a Keyblade Master," I explained, "You can try to ask Lionheart. Lots of people know that he wants to become one."

"...He seems weird," Knockout Punch looked away nervously. Mentioning Lionheart made me remember what I went to do in the first place.

"Excuse me, I need to go," I went around him and into the Back Streets.

I walked through the area in anticipation. When the first group of Heartless appeared, I summoned my Keyblade and fought them with ease. Every time I defeated one, I was a step closer to forgetting my problems with Aubade, with Oathkeeper and with Ominous Blight. I didn't think that Aubade disliked me in any way, but I could understand that he would be angry of me wrongly accusing his girlfriend. It would be like some police officers coming to my house to say that Oji-san went against the law, even though I would be in denial.

I thought Oathkeeper was happy with us just being friends until yesterday. He was so sure of himself, and I crushed him. I tried my best not to hurt his feelings but it wasn't enough. I didn't want to become his girlfriend because I still wanted to find out whether Ominous Blight liked me the way I liked him.

Even though I knew him for all my life I only just started noticing how wonderful he was, and it scared me. He made me feel safe when I couldn't walk in those stupid boots. His smile was so bright it held the entire galaxy. And most of all, I looked forward to looking into his eyes. They knew so many stories that I wanted to hear. With those thoughts in mind, I imagined myself saying them to Magu-kun and it made me sigh. I envisioned him taking in my words for a moment, and laughing at me. He would pat me on the head and say how sweet I was, but that I was too naive for him.

I sighed at that final thought, and realized I cleared through all the enemies in the Back Streets and Fourth District.

"4,000!"

"5,000!"

"7,000!"

"10,000!"

I stood near the crowd outside of the Auction House, hearing enthusiastic cries as players named their prices for the product on display. The product was a 'Lionheart' Keyblade, which rested on a table atop of a small stage. Standing next to the table was the millionaire Scrooge McDuck, as he listened to the prices being shouted at him. As the Keyblade shined in it's gunmetal glory, I searched the crowd for a familiar red-headed man. I gradually found his iconic armor, among his fellow party members. He obviously wasn't here to buy this product, but one of his comrades had the look of determination to obtain it as he furiously called out bigger numbers.

Lionheart on the other hand looked calm. He casually had his arms crossed over his slim chest and was peacefully smiling at his competitive friend. I wanted to convince myself that this was a facade, that he was up to something. I mean, there was a reason he became a Dark Keyblade Wielder. I thought it was wrong that Oji-san gave gamers so many options of what type of player they wanted to be. Who in their right mind wanted to be a Dark Keyblade Wielder?

"Oblivion, sweetheart, cutie, babydoll!" I heard a familiar Boston gangster accent from behind me. I cringed inwardly before forcing a smile on my face and turning around. "Long time no see! How've ya been?"

She wore a Rikku avatar inside the silver and blue armor of the Zantetsuken Party. Because of what had happened a month ago, I knew she wasn't a 17-year-old girl with loosely-braided hair. She was in fact an American woman in her early thirties with tanned-skin and blonde hair that curled around a heart-shaped face. However, I had met her back in January that year during the beta testing — which is why she made me cringe. With a small sigh, I said, "Hello, Lady Luck. I'm well, how are you?"

"Absolutely wondaful, I have some Party members bettin' at the auction. It's a great idea!" She beamed, "But enough about me. My offa still stands, so whaddya say?"

Looking at my speechless expression, she continued, "You are such a talented young lady, that's why I get so excited wheneva I see you. There's so many boys playing this game, it's a wonda where all the girls are. I just think that my party needs some of your girl power."

I knew she was up to something, but so was I, "I'll do it."

"Wondaful!" Lady Luck clasped her hands together, "Here are the rules everyone needs to follow: you must wear the armor at all times, report for missions from 4-6pm everyday..."

As she continued, I pretended to look interested as I kept an eye on Lionheart because I knew that I could read up on the rules at the party's base later. He was still carrying a relaxed poise and watching his comrade. How could he be orchestrating anything while standing there? In fact, how could Lady Luck be a suspect if she was talking to me?

"... And don't forget to let me know if you can't join us on a mission beforehand. Fantastic! I will see you tomorrow," She finished. We said goodbye to one another and when she left, I messaged the Highwind group chat. We didn't use it very often, but I wanted to let them know that I was spying on Lady Luck under the guise of joining her party. I hoped that they would read the message and respond, because I was slightly scared of what tomorrow would bring.


End file.
